British Motor Museum Volunteers

Wednesday, 8 June 2016

Work recommences in new location

Regular readers of this blog may have been wondering what has happened regarding our Ensign restoration project. Well, for a couple of months, not a lot really, work had to stop and the project was mothballed because of the complete refurbishment of the museum.

However, all that is now behind us and as was mentioned in the last restoration blog the Ensign now has a new home in the Collections Centre, which opened on 13 February. Installed on the first floor, the restoration of the Ensign can be viewed by all visitors to the Collections Centre, who also now have the opportunity to discuss anything with the volunteers.

Installed in its new location, the unpacking and sorting begins

One of the first jobs the restoration team needed to complete was the cutting, shaping and welding of the final piece of bodywork repair. This was a small section of bodywork at the base of the nearside front wing, which lines up with the bottom sill. It is not possible to weld in the car’s new location, so it was somewhat unfortunate that time ran out to complete this final bit of the jigsaw before the move.

However, given what has already been achieved on repairing this car, this was a problem easily solved. The following sequence of photos illustrates well what this final repair entailed and the skills our mostly untrained volunteers have acquired during this project.

The area for repair is cleaned and prepared, whilst the new section is cut and shaped

Clamped in place, the repair looks good. The wing is then removed and the new section spot welded

Final weld is completed in the workshop tent and then the wing is refitted and the repair finished

This repair marks the end of the body and chassis restoration and the refitting of parts and components has now started. Further blogs will continue to update you with progress, but why not visit the new Museum and Collections Centre and see the project yourself.